For Angie

she wanted to see what the clippies look like in hair. love them. Probably wear one at least 4 times a week, if not more.

When Two Spatulas Love Each Other Very Much...

She inherited her mother's figure.

Baby spatula found at $1 store. LOVE it.

Ellie's last feature

So, I think this is my last post about my newest niece Ellie, but I had to share these pictures Hillary had done with her.

http://jenniferfairbanks.blogspot.com

Hillary and the kids came up for Conference Weekend (basically, my whole family was here, minus my brother-in-law) and she got some newborn shots of Ellie. Her BFF Wendy had a baby 2 weeks after Ellie so they both had pictures done by one of Wendy's friends. Look how cute Ellie is:

A few more projects

I saw this idea from someone else, but they actually embellished their letters and it's not the style of our front room, so I thought, oh, I can do different shades of gray and black and possibly use a few rub-on swirlies. As you can see, I opted to keep them simple and clean-lined in black. At first I thought I had too many letters, but after I actually laid them out and then hung them, I think it's just the right amount. I'd even venture to say there is room for a couple more.

I ordered them from Say It With Letters and while the quality is always great, they took FOREVER to get to me (like, 3 times the estimated time given). However the chick that does them is currently on bedrest, pregnant with twins, so it's understandable...I just wish I would have known how flippin long it'd be before I could start working on them. (pardon the rant)




A few weeks ago I was at the Holy Cow Boutique (shouldn't that be Moo-tique?) and there was a vendor selling cute lil clips like these. The idea isn't unique, I've seem them popping up everywhere, but I wasn't too impressed with the ribbon selection of her clips so I bought a pair of the cutest ones and used them as the example for my own. These are a couple I made.


I think I've made about a dozen pair thus far and I love them because they hold my hair really well.

If anyone wants any, let me know. I'm charging $3 a pair (time, cost, etc.). I realize you can make your own for less than that, however it's worth the time you'll save. Believe me.

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

Ryan caught up with the rest of us 26 yr olds on Saturday (April 5th). It's always a fun time to invite people (mostly his family) over and a chance for me to bake a little.

Because our house was a mess and I wasn't feeling all too well, I came home from work a couple hours early to finish making the Tuxedo Brownie Cups and to make some salsa with the bunch of cilantro we had in the fridge from fajitas the week before.





Here's another appearance of the pretty Happy Birthday Banner I made last year. I think it's time for me to make a few different ones.


My parents were in town this past weekend for General Conference so they came over, too. It was a good night and I hope Ryan thinks so, too.

Projects

I have a few projects to share. I've been working with wool felt a ton lately and created these for springtime projects. The nice thing about felt, and particularly wool felt (there's a HUGE difference), is that you can be a little more tough with it and pull and push. It's a good thing. If it weren't so expensive, I'd use it more.

The carrots contain little bells that do more rattling than jingling, but oh well, they're still really cute. These pictures don't show how really cute they are.




Then I made a tiny strawberry. Initially I thought I'd use it as a pin cushion, but we'll see.

After the tiny strawberry, I attempted this huge one. I wish I could have gotten better pictures of it. I'll admit it took WAY longer than I wished it did (about 9 hours total) and I gave it away but now I'm wanting it back(!) - it was totally a labor of love that I think only I can appreciate.




I forgot to take pictures of my little dishtowel embroideries. THEY took a long time. Lots of french knots. LOTS. I'll update with a picture later.

Easter

Since we don't have any kiddos yet, our holidays seem to be a bit low-key. This year for Easter, Ryan worked in the morning and we headed up to his parents' house in South Jordan for Easter dinner and QT (quality time).

I got up earlier than usual on Sunday morning (I'll admit, I sleep in until 10:30 or so) and made butter cookies. They're like sugar cookies, but you don't have to wait for the dough to chill before baking. Makes the process go all the faster.

I made eggs and carrots, however I never got around to decorating the eggs.

These are the carrots. I think there were close to 3 dozen.

I used a simple powdered sugar icing recipe and used the piping method and then flooded the cookies. I haven't quite mastered the process, but I'm getting much better.

These are some of the naked cookies and others I just started icing.


Carrots waiting for their greens


Finished!


Close-up


They were so darn cute and I must add how deliciously soft they were. That icing really seals in some moistness.